Fatal
Prolouge A long-furred gray she-cat sat in her den, bright blue eyes clouded. Above her, the stars and moon shine brightly, the way they always had, but everything else had changed. Another gray she-cat, strikingly similar to the first, padded into the den slowly, cautiously. The first gray cat looked up. "Graybreeze? What do you want?" The second cat - Graybreeze - sat, eyes downcast. "Lilypaw will be fine, Aquastar," Graybreeze whispered quietly, looking at the leader with huge blue eyes. Aquastar sagged. "No, she won't. If she dies, I'll never forgive myself for lying to her." "You didn't lie to her!" Graybreeze protested. "All you ever did is love her like a mother, as did I. Instead of denying you when you asked me to raise Lilypaw as my own, I realized how much you thought of her as a mistake, and I brought her in. But Lilypaw is not a mistake, and I think you've learned that. But Lilypaw only ever thought of you as a leader, not her mother. I am her mother, and she knows that. You never lied, just never rather told her the truth." Aquastar bristled, claws unsheathing. "I never should have given her up to you! If I hadn't, I wouldn't have been miserable looking at her every day, knowing that I gave up my own daughter because I was afraid of raising her!" Graybreeze flinched away from her snarling sister and sighed, standing, ready to leave. She glanced over her shoulder at the miserable gray-furred leader. "Lilypaw is going to be fine. I may believe she's my daughter, but she's got your blood, not mine. She's a fighter, just like her mother." Graybreeze left, leaving Aquastar staring after her in surprise. Chapter One This is it. Once you're over the fence, there's no going back. Lilypaw took a deep breath and dug her claws deep into the wooden fence. Not letting herself back down, she hauled herself over the top of the fence, and, not pausing at the top, dropped down to the short, cropped grass of the lawn on the other side. The Twoleg den looked tall and looming. It sat dead center of the lawn, and it was a ghastly gray color. Cherry trees dotted the enclosed area, shedding pale pink petals over the spring green grass. Lilypaw inhaled the sweet scent as she crossed the yard, heading towards the front of the Twoleg den and towards the Thunderpath, no matter how much her instincts were screaming at her to turn and run back to the hills. A slender tabby kittypet was watching her with narrowed eyes, perched on a low branch in a cherry tree. When he saw Lilypaw walking towards the nest, he dropped to the ground, spitting. "Stay back!" He snarled, tabby fur fluffing up and back arching. "This is my territory!" Lilypaw stopped dead in surprise. "Whoa there!" Lilypaw cautioned, holding up a paw to show her sheathed claws. "I don't want to fight. I just need to pass through." The kittypet spat in fury and flew at her, claws extending and teeth flashing. Lilypaw screeched and dodged him, but his claws snagged painfully in her ear. Anger boiling in her veins, Lilypaw lunged at him, slashing her claws down his flank. He howled and landed a stinging blow on her muzzle before she fastened her teeth in his tail. The tom tore himself free and, wailing, raced off towards the den, disappearing inside. Lilypaw huffed and crept across the lawn until she came to the Thunderpath. Okay, so far this journey has been a total bust. And I've hardly taken five pawsteps! Chapter Two Lilypaw's eyelids were starting to droop with exhaustion. It was dark now, and she knew she needed to find shelter. She glanced around the Twoleg den she'd been crossing. Lots of bushes and rocks, no scent of dogs or kittypets. Ready to collapse with exhaustion, Lilypaw dragged herself over to a tree and neslted in the roots. Her head had hardly touched her paws before she'd fallen into unconciousness. * * * Lilypaw's eyes flew open and a yowl louder than she thought possible broke from her throat. Ignoring her hisses and swatting paws, a Twoleg grabbed her scruff and hauled her into his beefy arms. He carried her towards the den, Lilypaw growing louder and louder the nearer they got to the enterance. He held her balanced in one paw and opened the den with the other. He sat down on some long squishy boulder, setting Lilypaw down on his lap. Unsure of what to do - she'd never been trained to fight Twolegs - she just cowered there, trying to shrink into herself. His paws stroked her back, and despite the fact that she was terrified and trapped, it felt great. To her great horror, Lilypaw felt herself purring, pressing into the Twoleg's soft, stroking hand. He murmured soothingly, and took her off his lap, setting her down on the squishy bolder. He stood and disappeared, coming back a moment later with a bowl of water. Lilypaw lapped it up, her purr shaking her whole body, and curled up, falling asleep feeling warm and comfortable. Chapter Three Lilypaw woke feeling two sets of eyes boring into her. She opened one eye curiously to see a white she-cat staring at her with wonderous yellow eyes. What's that she's standing on? Lilypaw thought, sitting up slowly. The Twoleg was nowhere to be seen, and looking out a window, Lilypaw noted it was about sunhigh. "Hi," The small white she-cat mewed. "I'm Snowbell. What's your name?" Lilypaw looked down and blinked in surprise; Snowbell was balanced on the back of a dog, a big dog at that. Its orange-and-black brindled coat was stretched taut over lean muscles and fine bones, and its tail was wagging slowly. "Er, Lilypaw. Why...why are you standing on a dog?" Lilypaw replied slowly, not taking her eyes off the brute. "Oh, this is Carper. He likes cats. He's my buddy." She unsheathed her claws and scratched Carper's back affectionatley; the dog let out a joyful woof! "Um...okay." Lilypaw shifted, still not trusting the lean, long-legged dog. "So, what are you doing here, Lilypaw?" Snowbell asked, settling down into a crouch on Carper's back. "Oh. Um. I was sleeping in the roots of a tree out there-" Lilypaw waved her tail. "and a Twoleg grabbed me and brought me in here. But I need to leave! Cats will die if I don't get out of here!" Snowbell's eyes grew round with surprise. "Why?" She asked, leaping nimbly off Carper's back and landing on the boulder next to Lilypaw. "Because my Clanmates - cats I live with in the hills in the distance - are dying of some disease and I left to find a plant that could save them! If I'm holed up here, I'll never find it!" Snowbell ran her tail down Lilypaw's flank. "What kind of plant?" She asked curiously as Carper settled down on the floor. "I've never seen it, but its supposed to have yellow petals, a white center, and a dark green stem." Snowbell's eyes glowed. "I know that herb! My Housefolk went on a road trip and brought some back and put them in a vase." Lilypaw stared at her in shock. So the plant was real! "Can you help me get out of here, Snowbell? I need to find that flower!" Snowbell nodded and leaped off the boulder, leading the way into a room. She nodded towards a gap in the wall that lead outside. "That window's open. Go save your cats." Snowbell's eyes glowed. Lilypaw licked the young cats ears. "Thank you so much!" She purred, leaping onto the windowsill. "Good luck, Lilypaw!" The white kittypet called as Lilypaw leapt out the window. Her paws had hardly touched the ground before she started running. Chapter Four Lilypaw screeched to a stop, panic pounding in her heart. At her paws, the springy grass ended, replaced by the hard black stone of a Thunderpath. Lilypaw gulped heavily. She'd never crossed one in her life, but she'd seen them by the lake. And she'd been told enough stories about cats dying on them to make her cautious. Lilypaw took a deep breath and listened hard, but heard no sound of approaching monsters. She took a tentative step onto the hard black surface. No shiny-pelted monsters came flying down at her. Lilypaw padded out to the middle, ignoring the stinging in her paws. Nothing; the Thunderpath was silent. Lilypaw puffed out her chest triumphantly. It all happened fast. Lilypaw was taking a step, to cross the rest of the Thunderpath, when out a nowhere a monster was racing towards her with a roar that hurt her ears. Its round black paws were moving faster than Lilypaw thought possible; she needed to move, to get to the other side of the path, but shock had her frozen to the spot. Right when Lilypaw had closed her eyes so she wouldn't see the monster smash into her, something hit her - but not from the front, as she'd expected. This impact was strong but not monster-strong, and came from the side. Her eyes flew open; a black tom had knocked her aside. "Move it!" He snarled, hysteria barely contained in the tone, butting her flank with his head. Lilypaw didn't need to be asked twice; she scrambled to her paws and flung herself to the safety of the grass on the other side of the Thunderpath, the black tom hard on her heels. Lilypaw barely had time to look over her shoulder before the monster had whipped past, not giving the cats a second look. "Wow!" The WindClan apprentice gasped, sitting up and panting. "That was way too close! Thank you so much!" The black tom was staring at his raw-scraped paws in disgust and shrugged. "No problem. I would've had nightmares for weeks if I'd let it smush you." Lilypaw shuddered at the thought. "Where you headed?" The tom continued, standing and stretching his legs. "Uhh...the woods at the end of this Twolegplace, I think," She murmured. She glanced up at the sky. The sun was setting quickly. "I know where that is," The tom burst. "I was born there. I came here after my sister was taken by Twolegs." Lilypaw smiled. "Cool. Am I going in the right direction?" To her dismay, the tom shook his head. "No, its farther west. I can take you there," He offered. "My name's Crash," he added as an afterthought. "Lilypaw." "Nice. Okay, let's find someplace to stay for the night. Traveling through Twolegplace by night isn't the smartest idea." He led the way to some bushes in a Twoleg territory with borders unmarked by a fence. Lilypaw scrabbled underneath and Crash leaped nimbly into a low tree branch nearby. "Thanks again, Crash," Lilypaw murmured. She thought she heard his reply of "No problem, kid," before unconciousness overtook her. Chapter Five Lilypaw sighed and glanced upward at the sun. She and Crash had been traveling through Twolegplace for three days, and it seemed as if the rows and rows of Twoleg dens and Thunderpaths would never end. They'd been getting the majority of their food scavenging in shiny silver tubes that Twolegs threw crow-food into, and while some of it wasn't bad, some stuff was just downright nasty. Now, Crash was picking through one of the tubes, only his hind legs and winding black tail visible. His grunt echoed through the hollow tube as he pulled out something pale and sort of meat-smelling. "Why do Twolegs have to burn all their food?" Lilypaw grumbled, tearing off a bite. It tasted like some sort of bird, but there was no bone or blood, and the meat stuck to the inside of her mouth. "Twolegs don't like blood," Crash mumbled with a shrug. "Burning the food gets rid of the blood somehow, I guess." The two companions were just finishing their tasteless meal when a low snarl sounded from across the Thunderpath. Lilypaw lifted her head, whiskers twitching. Crash narrowed his yellow eyes. A group of maybe five rouges padded from the line of bushes, crossing the Thunderpath with their eyes trained on Lilypaw and Crash. The gray she-cat prayed to StarClan a monster would strike them, but the air was silent except for the angry snarling. The lead cat, a beefy tabby tom, lunged at them, the others following suit. Crash shoved Lilypaw aside just as the tabby's claws fastened in his shoulder. "Run!" Crash yowled, doing his best of fighting off the rouges but not doing a very good job. Lilypaw stared in horror as claws slashed his belly and blood poored over the grass. "Go!" He shouted again, trying to bite at his attackers. Lilypaw turned tail and pelted off into a Twoleg yard. Just before she rounded the corner, losing sight of Crash and his asaulters, she looked back, and saw Crash fall lifelessly to the bloodstained grass. Chapter Six Lilypaw had been wandering Twolegplace all day and hadn't run into the rouges who'd killed Crash. Her dreams last night had been haunted by the memories, and she walked with a lurching gait now, trying to shut out the sound of her black-furred friends' agony filled howls. Lilypaw had wondered many times if she could've stopped the rouges from killing Crash. She could've knocked over the silver tube, startling them away and, no doubt, impressing Crash. But she hadn't. She'd run like a stalked rabbit, leaving her friend - who'd saved her life only a few days ago - to be killed alone. Lilypaw hated herself and vowed never to forgive herself. For the first time since she'd met Crash, Lilypaw wondered if she was too late to save her Clan. She'd been gone nearly half a moon; it was enough time for the small group of Fever-raided cats to die off. Lilypaw couldn't surpress her shiver, and fought the urge to curl up in a ball where she was and die on the spot. But she couldn't do that. She couldn't give up. Lilypaw stumbled across a squirrel gathering nuts from a chestnut tree in a Twoleg yard. It had been two days since she'd had real fresh-kill, and the savory taste made Lilypaw instantly homesick. With a sigh, she continued wandering the winding black Thunderpaths. She looked up from her paws when the scent of pine touched her nostrils. She hadn't seen any pine trees in the Twolegplace at all. Lilypaw's jaw dropped. Here, the neverending Twolegplace ended. Here, the tall trees marked the beginning of the forest. She'd done it! Epilouge Crash lifted his nose to the dark blue sky, speckled with pinpricks of white. He'd played dead and, thankfully, the rouges hadn't checked for a pulse before lumbering off to find their next victim. Lilypaw hadn't turned up, which Crash had expected. He just hoped the rouges wouldn't catch up with her. He licked his belly with a grimace; the myriad of claw-slashes were still oozing blood, and he was still in danger of bleeding to death. And if he didn't bleed to death, infection was sure to set in. He sighed and shifted his weight. He knew that he and Lilypaw had been close to the woods when they were attacked. She'd run off in the right direction, so as long as she continued along the right road, she'd find the forest she had been looking for. His heart sank heavily. Crash had wanted to stay with Lilypaw after they'd found the forest, to leave Twolegplace behind and become a wild cat again. Now that she was gone he'd never have a life with her. He hauled himself higher up the tree, closer to the stars, and stared at the moon, which glowed the same color Lilypaw's pelt had in the starlight. Please don't let het forget me, was Crash's last thought before he fell into the oblivion of death.